window farms

Sure, here ya go. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFXngPx3w3M
Like I said, this is surely better than having food that was grown who knows how shipped from who knows where. For myself though it would be a funny thing to build this out of plastic bottles when I have been working for so long at limiting plastic in our lives altogether, you know? There must be a better way and that's what I aim to find out.

Thanks! 

Yeah forward thinking  .  I find it is so easy to say why something won't work before thinking how to make something work or work better.

To solve the problem of UV deterioration, one can paint the sunward side, or the whole bottle.

A whole design for apartment gardening might include worms, to bee fed primarily cardboard, which they love and thrive on.

And perhaps Tulapia tanks for the daring.

Single males might grow Soldier Flies to feed the fish, also.

A Moringa tree, well and frequenlty trimmed, in a planter, on wheels, if they have a sun-decent balcony.

If they have a balcony, then the towers to grow things on or hanging set up could do much more. They could put mini-greenhouses on their balconies.

As someone said, it is the initiation of a process, of moving out of inertia and into a future of greater possibilities.

Someone mentioned a planter box and a trellis......Here's what I do in my south facing windows. That is a watermelon plant in there. It's not quite as simple as some plants (I have to polinate it with a small paintbrush, plus I have to support the melons) but it sure is worth it. Last frost around here is usually around the end of May, so our season isn't very long at all. I grow all kinds of long season plants this way though.

And now the founder of the window farms social media/sharing site (18,000 24K users there) has a Ted Talk video.

Hi, a response to some of the above comments about whether this is even permaculture. I feel it absolutely is. The first thing I learned about permaculture about 15 years ago is that we need to apply sustainable concepts to where we live, be it city or country. An example the instructors gave was how in Mexico City entire families live in one room dwellings, yet are able to grow food for themselves.

Keep in mind how many people will never be able to live on spacious land. This is part of the reason why permaculture has a reputation for being an unrealistic solution- it’s seen as something only rich greenies can get into, as opposed to one that can save the planet.

This may need to be a new thread, but all those years ago I watched a video at a permaculture meeting. I’ve been able to find it online (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6370279933612522952&hl=en#). It’s an early documentary of Bill Mollison and his concept he called permaculture. The quality isn’t the best, but Bill is wonderfully entertaining, and the film is a great summation of how it all can work. Anyway, the very first practical application in the film after the introductory theory (about 10 minutes in) shows Bill himself setting up a garden on a tiny apartment terrace, complete with aquaponics.

I could go on forever about this film and the ideas/concepts/nuances, but I really just wanted to point out that the concept of permaculture can be applied in whatever situation you find yourself in.

An idea instead of bottle and to use soil would be the standard terracotta pots with the hole already in the bottom run a chain trough them with a bolt stopping the pot from sliding down the chain. The chain would also double up as a guide for the water so it dribbles down rather than just running trough. Some of the bonsai mesh could be used to stop the soil from falling out. I might have to see if I have neough pots....

Vera Lothian wrote:An idea instead of bottle and to use soil would be the standard terracotta pots with the hole already in the bottom run a chain trough them with a bolt stopping the pot from sliding down the chain. The chain would also double up as a guide for the water so it dribbles down rather than just running trough. Some of the bonsai mesh could be used to stop the soil from falling out. I might have to see if I have enough pots....

Seems like that could work, I would be concerned about the weight of a clay pot with soil in it though. You would probably need a beefy support system to hold a few of them.

After seeing this last week I have been considering setting up a system like this, I already had most of the supplies. But now I am thinking I might just setup a wire shelving unit in front of the windows instead, only because I have space and need more room to start seedlings.

I don't really see the concern of is this permaculture as being relevant. This window farm is a design, product, concept whereas permaculture is a system of design. To me that seems kind of like saying is this object a system of design. I think a better question would be, how can we apply permaculture to this design?

Some ideas to answer my own question:
*Turn it into an aquaponics system. A fish in the water res would add organic nutrients to the system, one things output is anothers input.
*Different locally available growing mediums could be used, Coco fiber, peat, a sandy soil mix, etc..
*Small solar panel to run the pump, or charge a battery that ran the pump.
*Use a sustainable or local product for the container instead of plastic, though something can be said for recycling done this way.
*Use compost teas or worm casting tea for fertilizer instead of commercially available salt based fertilizer.
*Add worms to the "grow beds" this is rather common in a lot of aquaponics setups, the worms live happily in the grow medium and help clean up the solid fish waste.

Just some thoughts...

I love the window farm idea, and designed a patio system to play with the idea. Just a heads up, those who are concerned about plastic containers are really going to hate my design. I obviously don't share the same concerns, and your opinions have been noted, but not adopted.

I selected laundry soap bottles for several reasons,
1) They are opaque so they block the sun from the roots.
2) Robust plastic compared to water bottles.
3) Large thread surface area on cap threads, flange on some of the caps, making a much stronger fastener connection.
4) Larger body to put more plants in each bottle.
5) Gather free from laundromats.

Filling the plastic bucket, 3/4 full of gravel, and a little growing media on top, gives more planting area.

System is super simple, and can be moved (I have a little hand truck just the right size).

hi there

what inner diameter size of tubing do you use with the air pump? i need to pump water up to 83 inches (2.10 meter)...

Also what are the other window farming forum where lot of info can ber found and active forum?

apreciate that .[size=18] [/size]